About a 1 1/2 weeks ago I picked colton up from school to discover that he had ruptured his left eardrum. This is the 2nd rupture in a month. I called and checked in with our dr office and got permission to proceed with our regular drill and made a follow up appt for him. Our regular drill is antibiotic ear drops 3x/day for 5-7 days. Normally this is not a big deal, but this last week we have had to practically "hog tie" him to the couch to get his drops in. It has been really tough on both of us.
Not many of you know that that same week colton started his OT therapy. Unfortunately it is in Philomath - which is almost a 1 hour drive 1 direction. Last week we got to his appt to find out he got to play the whole time and his therapy session was for me. We have discovered that all of his testing came back with results that show a severe deficiency in the OT/sensory areas. Our session last week was for me to learn how to start and proceed with an intensive, every 2 hour, sensory therapy. Every 2 hrs (or as close as we can get to it) I do sensory therapy by literally brushing his skin with a special brush and then doing some small joint exercises. He doesnt seem to mind the exercies and was even telling the big girls what to do when we were needing to teach them to help. The major downside is the scheduling thing. I am having to check him out of school 45 minutes early to bring him home to do his exercises every day and if we go anywhere we need to take the brush with us (which we havent gotten the hang of yet)
The other challenge to his therapy is that right now we are scheduled at 2pm - so we are away from home 1pm-4pm - right when kiddos are coming home from school. We have had a hard time coming up with a plan, as everyone we could have help are also getting kids from school. We are going to try to see if we can get a new time slot - possibly missing school 1 day/week - or having preston meet us and watch Ky/Kels while I am with colton during his appts. We are still working on it, either option will present concerns.
Last Friday we went to colton's follow up appt. I am so glad we did, and scared we did too. We found out that he still has a very large hole in his left eardrum and it is still infected - even after being on antibiotics all week. We also found out that the right eardrum (which he ruptured again a month ago) also still has a hole in it. Thankfully it was not still infected, but it is still there. Our dr was very concerned that we need to take more drastic measures - surgery to repair the holes or trying for tubes again. I am going to need to contact our ENT up at OHSU to see if we can get colton in earlier than his June appt.
We also confirmed that his ruptures are allergy induced. We had a nasal spray for his allergies from colton's last appt - but he hasnt let me get anywhere near him with it. We brought it down with us for our dr to hopefully help colton and then hope we could have the same results at home. Our doctor really is an angel and a miracle worker - he sat right there in the office with colton and talked with him and was able to give him the meds with no problems at all! Thankfully, using the cues our dr gave us, I have been able to successfully give colton his nasal spray at home as well.
Our schedule is quickly filling up with listening to timers going off to remind us of which med colton needs when - nasal spray 1x/day, still antibiotic drops 3x/day, in BOTH ears again. OT exercises every 2-ish hours. I am thankful that the girls have been willing to help with things too, between all of us we are learning the new routine and working hard to make sure colton gets everything he needs.
I am not sure what the next few weeks/months will hold for colton's medical needs. I am hoping we will be able to find out soon about possibly scheduling his ENT appts/surgery. We will keep everyone posted
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